Archive for December, 2012

Everyone knows how the story begins. Everyone knows how the movie ends. What happened in between is known by a few, but will never be known by all. That’s Zero Dark Thirty, the new movie by Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow that details and dramatizes the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the subsequent raid that killed him in May 2011.

Zero Dark Thirty isn’t playing nationwide yet — that doesn’t happen until January — but I saw it last week in the city. It’s one of the great benefits to living in New York — having early access to something that everyone is talking about, even if hardly anyone can actually watch it.

* No podcast of the week this week. Why? Because iTunes wasn’t updating podcast feeds on my iPhone. Either it’s a glitch in the system or people shut down their pod machines during the holiday. Either way: Weak. Am I the only one who throws away double-digit vacation days every year?

* Instead, we’ve got video to scratch your multimedia itch. Sioux Falls is home to one of the longest-running teams in minor league hoops. You don’t survive in that industry for almost a quarter century without some ingenuity – like social media night. The second edition is coming up Friday (and might feature four NBA players on assignment, led by the fabulously named Fab Melo). The team will wear special jerseys with their Twitter handles and fans can snag gear, food and seat upgrades via social media. Here’s a preview:

Seeking to punish myself for past and future sins, I headed out into the city on Saturday afternoon for some last-minute Christmas shopping and was pleased to see at least half of my fellow New Yorkers had come up with the same idea.

We chatted for a few minutes and then decided to get a beer and some lunch. The discussion eventually evolved into what it almost always does whenever I meet up with Greg: Me asking question after question about history.

Move over, Baby Jesus and Capitalism – the NBA owns Christmas Day. OK, maybe that’s not entirely true, but the Association had a little something for everyone during its Tuesday quintuple header.

Fury was there for the hoops, while TV chose to obsess about uniforms and haircuts. They talk about all that and more in podcast form. That’s right – another podcast this week. Merry Christmas? Or lazy copout? You decide.

If I had a fireplace, I’d be sitting by it tonight. Coffee in hand. Multicolored lights from the tree reflecting around the room. It’s Christmas Eve, a time for reflection, especially this year.

My wife and I brought home two kids this week, a boy and a girl, after a 29-day stay in the NICU, the shortest of our two sentences. That makes five kids – one deceased and four by scientific means – in a shade under nine years. Five kids. I never thought I’d be that guy. (more…)

The playoffs aren’t all that’s being chased in the NFL – several respected individual records have fallen or could fall in this week’s regular-season finale.

What’s more impressive – Adrian Peterson approaching the single-season rushing mark or Calvin Johnson topping the single-season record for receiving yards? TV and Fury discuss that and more in a podcast, featuring special guest Ty Vandrovec, who just might hold the record for lightest podcaster ever (5 lbs, 12 oz.)

* Turns out this will not be the finale of The Tapes because the world isn’t going to end today. Dammit. So says USA Today, which claims that the infamous Mayan prediction of an Apocalypse was actually a mistranslation. Bummer?

* This week’s podcast of the week: The Adam & Drew Show. No, it’s not Loveline, but it is the same two hosts – Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinske – talking about society as much as health and relationships. Sometimes, it’s astounding that these two have remained friends for so long given their very different approaches. Yet that’s why it works – they’re complementary pieces, like peanut butter and jelly. Here’s a link.

Let’s make one thing clear off the bat: This piece is not a judgment for or against the people of State College or Penn State. We’ve all read and watched plenty – probably too much, in fact – about the sexual-abuse scandal regarding the storied football program; we’ve all formulated opinions based on facts or allegations or emotions. That part of the story is essentially over, short of perhaps shaping future rules, laws or actions.

But Happy Valley hasn’t gone away, obviously, even as the media throng has moved on. That much was quietly yet overly clear – yes, a seemingly contradictory situation – during a weekend work visit, my first time there. I did not go out of my way to inspect every corner of campus or engage locals in discussion, casual or pointed. Instead, I just sort of walked around and observed – no assumptions, no judgments. (more…)

In my free time I watch a lot of sports. I watch a lot of movies. I read a lot of books. I read a lot of newspapers and magazines. Sometimes, thanks to our three laptops, iPad, two televisions, Netflix subscriptions, HBO Go access and NBA League Pass, I might do all of those things at once.

And often times as I watch a movie, I sometimes wonder: What if this story was happening in the real world? This isn’t about based on true life movies or inspired by real events movies or anything like that. It’s wondering about movies based on nothing but a screenwriter’s imagination, and wondering how real-life writers would handle the chaos, crime, love story, thrills, action, bravery and cowardice that takes place in the films. To break it down a bit more, how would a feature writer at a newspaper or a longform writer at a magazine handle the tales we see once on the big screen and then a hundred times on a small one?